


Learning to Fight from Uriel

by crOwnlEssG



Series: Notes Tied to Balloons [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angel Family, Angel Siblings, Angelic Family, Angelic Siblings, Angels, Brothers, Castiel's childhood, Castiel's fledglinghood, Cerberus - Freeform, Childhood, Collection of stories, Egyptian Plague, Family, Fledglinghood, Fledglings, Gen, Heaven, Learning to Fight, Learning to Fight from Uriel, Mini-story, Notes Tied to Balloons, NttB, Pre-Series, Series: Notes Tied to Balloons, Three chapters, fifth story, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-01
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-12-07 03:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/743796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crOwnlEssG/pseuds/crOwnlEssG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a fledgling, Castiel had a very big, very interesting family. Each story will stand on its own and will consist of three chapters. Fifth story's up:  Even the best of soldiers had the most awkward beginnings, except one angel was the most awkward of all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Round 1

_Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within_

_Once you find your center, you are sure to win_

_You're a spineless, pale pathetic lot_

_And you haven't got a clue_

_Somehow I'll make a man out of you_

_._

_I'll Make a Man Out of You ~ Mulan_

* * *

After a tremendously busy day of cleaning the lower region of Heaven (and now he knew what would happen if he scared a bunch of cupids enough to make them cry), Uriel was ready to unwind, and for him, there was no better place to do that than at one of the training chambers.

Heaven had numerous training chambers, which was so because it had to satisfy the sheer number of soldiers and prepare them for battle as much as possible. Though it was not an official law (yet), each garrison had assigned itself its own training chamber, primarily to familiarize each member to their comrades' unique fighting styles.

And that was why Uriel never chose to practice at his garrison's training chamber; he just loved having the element of surprise with him, and that sense of unpredictability gave him power.

He picked the training chamber tucked away at the farthest corner of Heaven, so distant that even the mighty booms of his punches would be unheard to anyone but him. Besides, all of Heaven already knew how hard he could punch so there was no longer the need to prove himself.

Landing, the sight that greeted him was of expected: a wide array of practice weapons dangled under a gigantic glass dome just after the entrance, and as he trained his eyes forward, there was a near-infinite expanse of a field littered with obstacles and practice demon-dummies. But otherwise, the whole place was empty.

That was until he heard some scuffling and wing-flaps in the distance.

Irked that someone else had beaten him here, Uriel snatched one of the practice-blades above and hunted for the origin of the noise. Training chambers was equipped with varying levels; the further an angel went, the more difficult the environment and task will be. Fortunately for Uriel, he did not even need to go past the second level.

He discovered that the culprit was actually one of the members of his garrison, the youngest one, in fact: Castiel.

Uriel had never understood him, and he especially never understood how he and Castiel were even allocated the same garrison. As much as Uriel had observed, their garrison was comprised of some of the strongest and most promising in all of Heaven. They were fierce, tough, powerful and fearless while Castiel… was not.

Still, it was interesting to see him here. Uriel decided to watch him from the shadows; maybe Castiel had a chance of proving his worth.

Castiel had a practice-blade with him, and just ten feet beyond him was a practice demon-dummy, which had all the ferocity of a sleepy, chubby panda. The dummy slumped forward as it 'initiated' the fight, to which Castiel responded with a flinch and a step backward.

"What a weakling." Uriel thought.

When the demon-dummy did not move anymore, Castiel extended his practice-blade and ran toward his target. However, as he was about to strike, the demon-dummy sent out a small psychic wave that made Castiel bounce off its personal space and land in a tangle of light and feathers. After a few seconds, he got up and tried the attack again, albeit the result was the same. This went on for another four attempts, each one further making Castiel look like a ruffled baby bird that plopped out of the nest, which was easier to imagine since his wings were still mostly down.

Eventually, he decided to take on a different approach. He fluttered until he was behind the demon-dummy; he crouched down, suddenly looking like a naïve kitten on its first hunt, then pounced.

It was a good tackle… if only the demon-dummy did not move a few inches to the side and therefore avoided being hit.

Castiel crash-tumbled to the ground and landed with a _poof_ on his own fluffy feathers; somewhere along the way, his practice-blade got knocked out of his hold. Uriel shook his head at the pitiful sight; it was hard to believe this sorry excuse of a soldier was part of his garrison, let alone one of his brothers. Having had seen enough, he made his way to Castiel.

Uriel had to push soft, clumsy wings aside in order for him to find his brother, and it was like he was trying to get Castiel out of layers of sand what with all the feathers that kept falling back into place. Soon, he located Castiel, who was lying on his back and staring at him inquisitively.

"Hello, brother." he calmly said.

"Castiel, what in Father's name are you doing?" demanded Uriel.

"I'm practicing my fighting skills." he replied.

"You call those _fighting skills?_ You fight like a human!" Uriel exclaimed, gesturing with his hands. In turn, Castiel's wings fell back on him and buried him.

"Is that a good thing?" came Castiel's muffled voice.

Uriel glared, in spite of his brother being obscured. "We are _above_ humans, in every way! You should know that!" he growled.

The pile of feathers shifted before Castiel sat up, his appearance more ruffled than ever. "So fighting like a human is… not good?" he said.

At that moment, Uriel just wanted to hit himself. "Fight me. Show me just how _skilled_ you are." he sneered.

"But I don't want to fight you." said Castiel.

Uriel summoned Castiel's practice-blade and shoved it so hard into his brother's hands that Castiel fell on his back again at the sheer force. "Do it."

After a while, Uriel's fiery glare won over Castiel's wide-eyed, uncertain gaze and the younger angel pushed himself up. At once, Uriel leapt back a good distance away and held out his own practice-blade, ready to strike. Castiel was stunned at the movement, which was a sure sign that he really did not have much experience with these situations. It later dawned on him on what was going on and he frantically copied Uriel's actions.

They stood there for a while, facing each other off, waiting for the first move. When Uriel realized that Castiel was either too scared or too oblivious to make the first move, he gladly poised his practice-blade in offense and went straight for him.

A look of pure terror passed through Castiel's face and he barely managed to remember to dodge in time. Uriel left a crater on the spot where Castiel had previously been in a moment ago.

Disoriented from the aftershock, Castiel failed to notice Uriel looming over him until it was too late and he 'stabbed' a tip of his wing. Practice-weapons were made never to brutally injure or kill any angel, but they hurt almost like their authentic versions, which was why Castiel was unable to hold back a pained squeal.

It was evident that Castiel thought the fight was over; however, to Uriel, the fight was never over until one of them was knocked down. To be fair to his brother, he threw away his own practice-blade as well. For a second, a look of relief and curiosity entered Castiel's expression, only to be quickly shattered when Uriel initiated hand-to-hand combat.

His poor brother had no chance at all and was quickly knocked onto his back. Castiel had taken a lot of punches, kicks and jabs whereas Uriel remained without a scratch.

"Pathetic." scoffed Uriel.

"I'm sorry." said Castiel.

Uriel made a disgusted ' _hmmph_ ' sound as he gathered their practice-blades. "How are you ever going to battle any monsters like this? You need a teacher. Someone who's strong and brave and hard to knock down." he said.

There was silence in the chamber for a while, broken by the sound of Castiel uneasily getting up to a sitting position. "Will _you_ teach me?" he asked.

Uriel whipped around to face Castiel, and Castiel cringed at the sudden penetrating glare locked on him. Then, Uriel's expression gradually softened and he gave his brother a smirk. "I thought you'd never ask." he smugly said.

At that, Castiel scrambled to get up and half-approached, half-fluttered to Uriel. "You'll teach me? Really?" he inquired, his blue eyes bright and gleaming and an excited grin on his face. He looked like he was about to give him what had been recently termed as a 'hug' but Uriel stepped away just in time.

"Stop that." said Uriel.

"Stop what?"

"All that smiling and... and niceness. It's disturbing."

Instantly, Castiel's expression became impassive, although the too-wide eyes were still present. That was an interesting advantage; being the young angel that he was, Castiel was very much susceptible to following any order coming from an older sibling, and that was a trait that will truly come in handy. This whole teaching thing might actually be possible; not only that, it had a lot of benefits, like with Castiel fully trained, their garrison will undoubtedly be the strongest. Plus, it was an excuse for Uriel to have some fun and get away with an occasional bout of destruction.

Uriel grabbed Castiel and took them out of the training chamber.

"Where are we going?" Castiel asked.

"Earth. As much as I hate the mud-monkey-infestation down there, you need to be in as gritty an environment as possible." said Uriel. A glint entered his eyes. "And I know just the place for your first workout session."


	2. Round 2

  
_So many times, it happens too fast_   
_You change your passion for glory_   
_Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past_   
_You must fight just to keep them alive_   


_._

_Eye of the Tiger ~ Survivor_

* * *

Uriel, with Castiel in tow, arrived at Earth, although instead of landing immediately they chose to glide along the sky for a moment.

"Where are we?" Castiel asked.

"Egypt." answered Uriel.

"But I thought there was an announcement that no one should go to Egypt for the time being." said Castiel.

"They just say that to keep us from having some fun and excitement." he replied.

They kept flying until the desert transformed into a city. Uriel tugged Castiel along and they began to lower themselves the moment a pyramid rose out of the cloudy horizon, soaring closer and closer to it until they were at the peak.

"This looks like the right spot." proclaimed Uriel. He got his brother and placed him on the very top block of the pyramid. He then summoned a short string of cloud overhead and used it to create a hovering circle around Castiel. "Stay there."

"What are we doing?" inquired Castiel, regarding the circle with a head-tilt.

" _You_ are going to wait for my instructions. _I_ will just sit here." said Uriel as he distanced himself slightly and plopped down onto a good collection of air currents.

Castiel gave him a long, observant stare before a strong wind picked up, which pushed a great deal of clouds over Egypt. Lights crackled behind the gigantic clouds and a low, continuous rumble prowled along the under-layers not soon after.

"What's going on?" Castiel asked, slowly and worriedly.

"Your first lesson." answered Uriel, leaning back and getting a more comfortable position.

Something white fell from the clouds and Uriel caught it in his hand without even looking up; he held the hailstone, about the size of a chicken's egg, up for Castiel to see.

"Punch every hailstone that falls within the circle." he said. And as if to motivate him, Uriel promptly crushed the hailstone he had in a single motion and let its bits fall to the sand far, far, below them.

"That's it?" clarified Castiel.

"As much as possible, they should break into pieces." Uriel added.

Castiel nodded fervently and proceeded to scan the skies for any approaching hailstones. A minute later, another hailstone dropped from the clouds; Castiel made a move to chase after it but the hailstone fell just outside the boundary of the circle. His balance was lost for a minute, causing him to ridiculously flail which Uriel found amusing and just had to chuckle.

Three more hailstones descended, but they were all beyond the small circle. Finally, one hailstone was on its way to plummet into the circle, and Castiel got so excited that he almost missed landing a hit on it.

"I got one!" he happily declared.

"Castiel," began Uriel.

"Yes?"

"That was a sad punch." he said.

At that, all the enthusiasm drained out of his features and even his wings sagged in disappointment. But then another hailstone came within range and Castiel bucked up and gave it a more improved punch.

"Fantastic," said Uriel. "…if you're trying to upstage a newborn kitten."

Castiel's wings ruffled at that, and it almost looked like he was offended. More hailstones were falling now and he punched as much of them that went within the circle as he could. Some punches were just as pathetic as the last, albeit eventually he was getting the hang of it. More chunks flew off and they reached more distance.

But then the real storm arrived and hail plummeted at such a dramatic rate that even angels such as Castiel had a tough time keeping track of them all. His punches became confused and uncertain; soon, he was so overwhelmed and was stumped at which direction he should pick.

"Can I stop now?" pleaded Castiel, and though he did not say it aloud, it was evident that he did not like getting pummeled by hail.

"Don't be such a fledgling, brother." scoffed Uriel.

Castiel yelped as a particularly huge chunk of hail hit him on the head. "But I _am_ a fledgling." he replied.

"It's an expression!"

"But _you're_ still a fledgling too."

"Just barely." Uriel defended. He glanced and saw that Castiel was giving him one of his piercing stares again. "Shut up and keep punching." he hastily added.

His younger brother stared at the skies around them, desolation and doubt in his eyes. Then, as if triggered by something, Castiel just started wildly, almost with blind recklessness, punching at every direction. It lacked form and finesse but Uriel decided to distance himself all the same from the little whirlwind his brother had become.

Shards of hail shot out of Castiel's small field, which at first merely fell by the cloud-circle's border. Then a little further, a little straighter, then pushed with much more speed and force, coming out more numerous and sharper than before…

Uriel would never admit it to anyone, but he actually had to _seek shelter_.

Once it had gone on far enough, Uriel inched out of his makeshift cloud-shield. "Castiel, you can – "

A big hailstone hit him in the face.

"…stop now." he finished.

Castiel immediately ceased when he realized what had happened. "I apologize for that." he said sheepishly.

Uriel wiped the hailstone off his face with as much dignity as he could muster. "At least you're improving, somewhat. It's time for your second lesson." he stated.

The cloud-circle vanished as Castiel stepped out of it. "What is it?" he inquired.

Like it was on cue, a long streak of lightning zipped across the sky, followed by a loud boom of thunder that caused Castiel's wings to falter for a second.

"Catch lightning bolts." said Uriel self-righteously.

Castiel's eyes widened and his mouth went agape. He nervously looked up in time to see another batch of lightning bolts mercilessly rake the clouds, and it only took a moment to realize who was in charge of this storm.

"Those are from Raphael." he whispered timidly.

"And some are mine." said Uriel sadistically. He pointed a finger to the sky and, sure enough, a different bunch of lightning bolts darted all over, and although they were not as bright or large as Raphael's, they still appeared formidable.

If Castiel was not using his wings to fly at the moment, he would be cowering in them. "I'm scared." he admitted.

"You're always scared. That's what's holding you back from becoming a real warrior; you let..." Uriel shuddered at the next word. "… _emotions_ get in the way. It impairs your abilities." he explained.

For a while, Castiel seemed to hang onto his every word. Then he tilted his head up and the fear manifested itself again. "They're so big." he whimpered.

"You're an angel." countered Uriel. Suddenly, his Grace sensed an approaching danger. "Incoming!"

Lightning streaked down and would have hit both of them if they had not acted sooner. When the bolt vanished, Uriel looked around for his brother, actually fearing for a brief moment that he had been too clumsy to get away. However, when he caught sight of him hiding behind the pyramid peak, every bit of concern was replaced by fury.

"What are you waiting for? Catch them!" shouted Uriel as he gestured at the multitude of lightning bolts shooting across the sky. Instead of doing what he had been told, Castiel merely shrank further behind the pyramid with a shake of his head.

"Castiel, you're never gonna learn anything like this. Catch. A. Lightning. Bolt!" said Uriel pointedly. And just when he thought his brother could not be any more obstinate, Castiel seemed on the verge of crying.

If cursing was allowed, he would have done it tenfold by now. Uriel was about to fly over to Castiel and yank him out by the wings when a distant yet shrill sound reached them.

"What's that?" Castiel asked, his inquisitiveness overcoming his trepidation.

Tracing the origin of the noise, both of them looked down and discovered that it had come from the Egyptian village burning below.

"Humans." sneered Uriel. "Screaming and running around for their puny lives."

That managed to get Castiel out of his hiding spot. "Why?" he asked.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fire from the sky," Uriel answered with a trace of sarcasm.

Castiel fluttered closer to Uriel to get a better view of what was going on below them. "They're getting hurt." he muttered apprehensively. "Even the humans' fledglings are with them." he added, more worried than ever.

"They're called children." corrected Uriel. He scanned the rest of the terrain and pinpointed an interesting sight. "Oh, look at that. One of them is stuck under a fallen tree."

His younger brother quickly whipped his head around to where Uriel was looking. "Her family's rescuing her." he observed, edged with relief.

"Not for long." chuckled Uriel. He pointed a finger to the clouds and a lightning bolt came down and hit the tree, causing it to catch fire. The humans screamed louder and more frantically.

"Brother, stop! They could die!" Castiel screamed.

"Well, let's make it quick then." said Uriel. With that, he pointed to the sky and two more lightning bolts descended, this time aimed for the humans.

In less than a second, there would be five more adding to Egypt's death toll… if only Castiel had not dived in, caught the bolts and hurled them back to the sky where they would do no harm.

Uriel regarded him with disdain. "You'd rather catch lightning bolts for the sake of saving a handful of chimps than to be a better soldier?" he yelled, mostly because he was furious rather than to compensate for the distance Castiel had placed in between them.

"It's not like that." said Castiel.

"Really?"

Uriel directed another lightning bolt toward the humans and Castiel swooped in to catch it and throw it to the clouds.

"Stop it, please!" Castiel begged.

"Make me." snapped Uriel.

He sent down five lightning bolts, all toward various directions, and an extremely panicked look entered Castiel's face before he zoomed off. Every bolt he caught and hurled, Uriel made two more in their place, and soon his younger brother was whizzing all across the skies. At some point, Castiel was either going too fast or too focused on his next catch to regard his safety and the other lightning bolts were able to brush against his wings and form which, even for full-grown angels, hurt.

Overtime, Uriel started to feel sorry for him and stopped making lightning. Afterward, he approached Castiel, who was leaning against a cloud for support as the fatigue wore down on him.

"Aside from getting a bit less humans on the planet, you did a good job." said Uriel, unconsciously using his wing to shield his younger brother from any more harms.

Castiel was trembling, and he did not look like he could stay airborne much longer. "It hurts." he murmured, showing Uriel his burnt hands.

"Come, let's land for a while. And so long as you don't start sobbing on me, I'll help you heal." said Uriel. And although he refused to admit that he had what had been dubbed as a 'soft side,' he will admit that, at the moment, he did not want to lose a now promising member of his garrison.

O_x

"…and so Nemamiah says, 'That's not an acacia tree, that's a broccoli!'" Uriel concluded, letting out a boisterous guffaw. As they were healing Castiel, he had decided that passing the time with some jokes ought to be worthwhile.

Castiel glanced up from his hands and tilted his head at Uriel. "I don't get it." he said impassively.

"It's a funny joke." said Uriel. When Castiel's confused expression only deepened, he darkly added, "Laugh or I'll smite you."

Castiel made a nervous, lighthearted chuckle before his gaze suddenly locked on something very interesting in front.

"What?" Uriel asked sharply.

"There's a grasshopper on your head." said Castiel innocently.

Uriel instantly let go off Castiel's hands to swipe at his head, and a second later, a grasshopper came bouncing down to the sand. "Stupid grasshopper." Uriel muttered.

As the creature started bouncing away, Castiel nimbly caught it in his newly-healed hands and observed it in its cupped prison. Uriel ' _hmmph'_ ed in abhorrence and turned his head away when the grasshopper attained a bright giggle out of his brother.

Upon letting his grasshopper go its way, Castiel perked up again. "There's two more on your left wing." he said.

That got Uriel to stand up to shake them off him. "I am a second away from smiting these creatures." he growled.

Castiel also got up to let the other two grasshoppers pass, only to have his eyes widen once he was at his full height.

"I think we should leave Egypt now." he said uneasily.

A huff of indignation was about to be sounded off when Uriel turned to where Castiel seemed to be staring and he found himself doing likewise.

A gigantic swarm of locusts was on its way toward them, quick and hungry. For once, Uriel followed an order coming from a younger sibling and they took off. Unfortunately, Castiel apparently still seemed to be tired from his earlier flight and did not get high enough to escape the swarm. The last thing Uriel heard was his brother squealing for help and when he faced the swarm, Castiel was nowhere in sight.

"Castiel!" Uriel shouted. When a reply failed to be heard or sensed, he threw his pride away and waded into the mass of grasshoppers.

At first, he was just whacking away at one grasshopper pile to another, then for some reason he reduced himself to carefully sifting through the creatures like they were grains of sand.

"Castiel, where are you? Castiel!" screamed Uriel. He could not believe this, there was no way this could –

"Uriel?"

Uriel instantly snapped up to trace where his brother's voice was coming from… which was a few meters away from him and well out of reach of the swarm.

There was the head-tilt again. "Why are you holding a tumbleweed in the middle of a locust swarm?" Castiel innocently asked.

Switching his gaze to his hands, Uriel learned that he was indeed holding a tumbleweed, something he thought was the edge of Castiel's wings but clearly was not. Now, he realized he looked like a total idiot kneeling amidst the swarm as grasshoppers climbed and jumped over him.

With a flap of his wings, Uriel was next to his brother, whom he grabbed a little too tightly.

"Let's just go." he muttered.

O_x

They landed somewhere cold, dark and, most importantly, devoid of life.

"Where are we now?" Castiel diffidently asked. As if the tremble in his voice was not enough, he was gradually moving closer and closer to Uriel.

"Let's just say it's somewhere deep underground." said Uriel as he pushed his brother away.

It was not long before Castiel began clinging to his wings once more. "I don't like it here." he whispered.

"Life isn't all rainbows and sunshine, brother; get used to it." Uriel replied as they continued to venture deeper.

Their journey went on undisturbed for quite some time, and although the darkness did not impair their vision, there always lingered that sense of unease at what could possibly jump out at the next boulder or stalactite.

Then an earth-shattering roar filled the chamber they were presently in.

"That sounded like a monster." said Castiel quietly.

"That's actually your next lesson." snickered Uriel.

The whole chamber rumbled, as if caught in an earthquake, but as it progressed, a sort of rhythmic pattern could be detected, like in the manner of footsteps.

And that was when a huge creature burst out of the wall, snarling and howling so loud that stalactites fell off the ceiling. Castiel and Uriel took cover at the nick of time, and as the dust settled, the creature responsible was finally revealed.

With its claws marring the granite walls, its body blocking the entire passage and its six eyes glaring with predatory instinct, Cerberus stood over them in all its menacing form.

Uriel snuck a glance at his brother and saw that he was frozen stiff in terror. He chose that opportunity to shove Castiel into Cerberus' full view, much to his sheer dismay.

"Last seven hours with him... them." said Uriel, gesturing at the beast.

Cerberus barked and Castiel tried scrambling his way back to Uriel. However, Uriel flew out of his reach and landed at the threshold that led to the only exit. He banged against the wall several times until the passage was obstructed by rocks, effectively trapping Castiel in with Cerberus.

"And before you get any smart ideas," Uriel waved and let a bit of his Grace pulse through to etch symbols onto the boulders. "I've warded the walls so the rocks can only be moved from the outside." shouted Uriel.

Castiel's tiny form thumping against the boulders could be faintly heard on the other side, and his desperate pleas for freedom followed soon after. Uriel merely chuckled to himself as he went around finding a good spot to meditate.

Once the seven-hour-span was over, Uriel came back to the wall-block and removed a single stone from the pile. That caused a chain-reaction and the majority of the boulders came toppling down.

"Castiel?"

He was greeted by a calm, empty sight that lacked any angels or guard dogs of the Underworld, and that got him worried. Cautiously, he went into the cavern to search for his brother, because if Castiel got eaten on his watch, there was no way he could ever hold a real weapon of Heaven.

"Castiel?"

As his search continued to be fruitless, worry was beginning to creep over him. All of a sudden, the ground shook and Cerberus came running through from the very edge of the cavern. Uriel dove out of its path in time, albeit he soon he realized that the monster was chasing him.

Uriel flew for the life of him, but Cerberus always came in too close so he could not really get away that much. Then he remembered that he was an angel, an angel who was perfectly capable of smiting lowlife mongrels such as this. He was about to strike when a very big paw pinned him to a corner and refused to release him.

Cerberus leaned in close to Uriel… and licked him with all its three tongues. As if he could not be more humiliated, a little head popped out from behind Cerberus' heads.

"Hello, Uriel. Has it been seven hours already?" said Castiel brightly.

Unbelievable.

Castiel giggled and patted each head. "You can put me down now, Cerberus." he said, and just like that, Cerberus lowered its heads and allowed Castiel to slide off easily. Once he was settled, Cerberus turned all three heads toward Castiel and started licking at him.

"I think they like me." laughed Castiel, squirming around.

Uriel could not help but stare incredulously at his brother. Cerberus – one of the most terrible beasts in all of creation – was basically a playful puppy having fun with a fledgling. He had seen a lot of weird things in his existence… but this had to be the prime of them all.

The minute Cerberus' paw slackened off him, Uriel shoved it aside, marched toward his slobber-covered brother and made his way to the exit.

"Let's go." he grumbled.

Castiel stumbled along but did not resist his pull. "Goodbye, Cerberus. I'll come visit you when I'm not training." he called out.

Cerberus barked in acknowledgement and wagged its enormous tail around.

Purely unbelievable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, hopefully this would sorta satisfy the 'Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison' shtick.
> 
> References are the biblical ten plagues and Greek mythology.


	3. Round 3

_We've got to hold on ready or not_

_You live for the fight when it's all that you've got_

_._

_Livin' on a Prayer – Bon Jovi_

* * *

"Castiel."

No response.

"Castiel."

Still nothing.

" _Castiel!_ "

Castiel perked up and finally tore his gaze away from the caterpillar that had been munching on a leaf for over an hour. "Hm?"

"Are you finished yet?" Uriel asked irately.

His younger brother stared at him considerably for a moment before giving the caterpillar a final glance. He then fluttered over to Uriel's side and they began moving again.

"I swear I wonder how Father even created you," grumbled Uriel. They flew for a while until a vast, rocky valley appeared below them and Uriel gestured for a landing.

"Do you know what we're going to do?" he asked.

Castiel looked around their surroundings for a minute and he answered with a headshake.

"Good. And don't do that with your head; it's a human gesture." said Uriel with a hint of a sneer.

Castiel tilted his head at him. "Is that bad?" he inquired.

Uriel grimaced slightly. "You've been spending too much time with Annael." he murmured. With a wordless command from his Grace, he ordered Castiel to stay put as he wandered around and surveyed the land for a bit.

There was no greenery here, just the endless gray of cliff-faces and sharp, protruding edges from the boulders that littered the whole terrain. It was a place devoid of life and was promising for some heavy-duty damage.

Without warning, Uriel grabbed a nearby boulder and threw it to Castiel. Castiel, meanwhile, gasped before hastily flying off to a safe spot. However, Uriel was one step ahead of him and hurled another boulder at him less than a nanosecond later, which Castiel avoided nonetheless.

"What are you doing?" yelled Castiel.

"Trying to hit you." answered Uriel. To prove his point, another boulder was launched and Castiel barely managed to evade it.

" _Why_?" he shouted, frightened.

"To teach you that we are above pain! I want you to stand still and let yourself get hit with a boulder!" replied Uriel.

Castiel ducked and flew away from three more boulders. "Is this truly necessary?" he asked worriedly.

"If you want to be a genuine part of Heaven, yes." said Uriel. His boulder-throwing went on for quite some time, albeit he had yet to smash his extremely evasive brother at least once. "For the love of – ! _Stop_ _moving_!" he yelled.

Whether Castiel failed to hear his words over the booms of large rocks shattering the earth or he simply chose to ignore him, he still went on avoiding the falling boulders. Getting fed up with him, Uriel stretched his hand and immobilized Castiel in his place. His brother struggled to free himself, but he was still so young that he had not learned telekinesis yet, much less how to counter it.

Satisfied, Uriel got a boulder and gradually made his way to his frantic sibling. He made certain that his approach was as daunting and agonizingly slow as possible simply to make Castiel panic more. He was frozen in mid-takeoff and Uriel found that all the more amusing.

As he was about to drop the boulder, and with the dread in Castiel's eyes shining brighter than ever, all of a sudden, Uriel felt a strong force grip him by the Grace and fling him, plus the boulder he was holding, to the other side of the valley. Seconds later, the mysterious force disappeared and Uriel unceremoniously slumped to the ground.

He sat there trying to take into account of what just happened. That was an angel's energy that had tossed him here, it was unmistakable. Was another angel around then? The moment the dust cleared, Uriel saw, to his shock, that Castiel was free from his psychic hold, moving about and had a surprised expression as well.

And that was when it dawned on Uriel:

"Did you just catapult me into a wall?" he asked outrageously. His brother had somehow spontaneously learned a countermove to telekinesis, which was unheard of in extremely young fledglings such as Castiel.

A minute passed and Castiel finally picked up on that fact. He shook himself out of his alarm and sped over to Uriel. "I didn't mean to!" he cried out innocently.

He was so focused on getting to Uriel that Castiel failed to take in account the various boulders that still populated the area. He bumped into one, which in turn knocked him over to another boulder; that caused the second boulder's balance to be upset and before either angel could register the effects of gravity, the boulder fell on top of Castiel.

Uriel merely sat there dumbstruck for a moment.

"Castiel!" he later exclaimed once everything fell into place.

He rushed to where his brother was being squashed and flipped over the large rock with urgency. Luckily, without vessels, they did not have much of a physical form so the damage was less substantial. But to be at risk of being harmed was always a huge possibility.

Uriel carefully peered down the little crater his brother had made. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Castiel stared at him with a dazed expression for a long time before he struggled to get up. "I think so." he replied faintly.

Realizing that he was bordering on compassion, Uriel straightened up and sneered at him. "You should be. That was the smallest boulder here." he laughed.

Regardless, they were basically done here. They still had much to do and they could not afford to waste any time. Uriel gestured for them to leave; a couple of seconds later, when he noticed the lack of a younger sibling following him, he turned around and saw that Castiel was stumbling off to a different direction, apparently in a kind of stupor. He had seen that stunned look in some humans before, when they were so beaten up that logic escaped them, their sight would become faulty and they would be too confused to distinguish left from right.

Uriel sighed and got Castiel. " _This_ way, brother." he said, guiding him to the correct way.

O_x

They moved further inland and arrived in a wooded mountain area. Bamboo shoots sprouted in every nook and cranny and a thin layer of mist blanketed the whole landscape. A large waterfall gushed on in the distance that sounded as if the land was snoring.

"Uriel?" Castiel piped up as they were walking.

"What?" tartly replied Uriel.

"I am getting tired." he said.

Uriel let out an aggravated grunt. "Only mortals get tired. They're the weaklings of creation. Do you want to be a weakling?" he asked harshly.

"No," muttered Castiel.

"Then pick up the pace. Training isn't over yet." snapped Uriel.

Castiel timidly bowed his head and said no more. They navigated their way through the bamboo and flowers with ease, and all the while, the mist got thicker the further they progressed. However, it did not take long for the serene environment to transform into something grisly; after pushing through a thick collection of bamboo, they came to a clearing where a great stretch of bamboo had been severely scorched, leaving a gaping black circle in the forest.

Uriel quickly realized what they had stumbled into. Unfortunately, Castiel did not and his curiosity led him to tread onto the burnt earth.

And like an alarm had been triggered, a huge shadow moved behind the mist and Castiel immediately leapt back to Uriel. The same shadow flitted past, closer this time and accompanied by the stench of brimstone and ashes.

Without warning, a jet of fire shot out from the sky and the two angels barely had enough time to take cover. As the smoke dissipated, a gigantic red dragon appeared, snarling and watching them with a deeply penetrating gaze.

"Brother," Castiel whispered fearfully.

"Be still." said Uriel, not leaving eye-contact with the dragon. "And no matter what, _do not_ flee." he added.

The dragon continued to stare at them a moment longer. It locked eyes with Castiel, and after it found out that it had been him who stepped onto its territory, the dragon released a ground-shattering roar before grabbing the young fledgling.

"Uriel!" Castiel screamed in terror.

"Stop whining! Get out of there on your own!" said Uriel.

The dragon began shaking him about as it slowly took to the skies. "Help!" cried out Castiel.

"It's challenging you! You have to accept it!" yelled Uriel.

Castiel managed to squirm his way out of the dragon's claws. However, the dragon prevented him from flying away by spraying a deluge of fire around him.

"I don't want to!" exclaimed Castiel.

"Do it, Castiel!" ordered Uriel.

The dragon roared once more, as if it was getting impatient.

"I'm scared!" said Castiel, on the verge of crying. Frankly, Uriel could not blame him; unlike Cerberus, dragons were actually more likely to consume living beings, fledglings included.

"Then you don't deserve to be a soldier." responded Uriel.

At that, what little courage Castiel had to begin with since his entire creation bubbled up to the surface and, gradually, made him face the dragon. Consequentially, the dragon poured a dense puff of smoke onto Castiel before it started circling him.

"What does it want me to do?" Castiel asked timidly.

"A race, and a fight." answered Uriel. "At the same time."

Not a moment after he said that, the dragon zoomed up to the sky, knocking Castiel to the ground with its sheer turbulence. Castiel had to shake the shock out of his system before he recalled what he had to do and took off. When it was sure that there was enough distance, Uriel flew after them, although choosing to go at a lower altitude.

It was not until a minute later that Uriel located his brother and the dragon streaking through the clouds. Also, he could not help but notice that Castiel was lagging a good twenty feet away on purpose.

"Keep going! Show that lizard how powerful angels can be!" ordered Uriel.

Castiel spared him a nervous glance before tentatively accelerating. The dragon sensed his approach and let a fiery flood gush out at him, which Castiel nearly failed to evade. Another stream of flames came rushing at him, and this time he was caught unaware and got hit, resulting to his descent.

Luckily, Uriel got hold of him in time and hurled a still-too-stunned Castiel back into the race. After a few seconds of jerky, clumsy flying, Castiel was soon in his right state of mind and managed to avoid another jet of fire, though it was obvious that he was not going at his full speed, much to Uriel's annoyance.

The clouds eventually started to cut away when a seemingly endless stretch of mountain ranges and rock spires materialized ahead of them. Castiel and the dragon now had to be more wary of their flight lest they wanted to collide into something. Both of them were aware of the dangers, except that only the dragon managed to think that that could be used to the advantage.

Fire rained down on Castiel more frequently than ever, and Castiel had to frantically circumvent that and the land masses coming up to meet him. On one occasion, he even miscalculated his flying and crashed into a rock spire after the dragon feigned another blast. As Castiel recovered, the dragon brought forth a real burst of flames and Uriel thought for certain that his brother would not stand a chance.

Then Castiel deflected the fire and sent it straight back to the dragon.

Uriel was actually impressed, considering that his younger brother's abilities were not yet that developed. Although, if anyone asked, he would call it a lucky shot, not that he was jealous or anything.

The dragon fired at him again, which Castiel once more deflected. Riled, the dragon produced more jets of fire and even clawed at some of the cliff faces so that a landslide would come meet Castiel. However, he just dodged and deflected all of them, and as he continued to emerge unscathed, his confidence seemed to grow as Uriel noted him gaining on the dragon.

Sensing Castiel's rapid approach, the dragon snatched him in his claws and appeared to have the intention of dragging him across the mountain ranges. Castiel struggled, the dragon roared so loudly that boulders fell from the nearby mountains, clouds thickened, several blasts of fire were made which were followed by rebounding shots, Castiel and the dragon began to go down, a ghastly bellow and a child-like scream sounded off at once...

Uriel lost sight of them before a rupturing crash thundered across the land.

"Castiel!" he exclaimed. When a reply failed to reach him, Uriel swooped down as fast as he could.

It did not take long for him to find the crash site since it was practically one deep, enormous crater filled with boulders and a couple of large trees. He shoved aside some rocks before he came face to face with the dragon, making Uriel leap back a considerable feet away. Once the shock subsided, he realized that the dragon was unconscious and was very much pinned down by the boulders. Also, judging by the pool of blood slowly seeping out of the mound of rocks, it appeared as though the dragon was heavily wounded.

Uriel nonchalantly looked away and searched for his brother. Thankfully, it was a lot easier than with the dragon since Castiel was placed a good distance from the crater, totally uninjured. Because the dragon was not likely to be getting up any time soon (or at all), Uriel grinned at his brother's official victory. He would have thought Castiel would be thrilled, even on the verge of hugging him at the news, but instead he was curled up into the tightest ball he could muster, eyes staring straight ahead at the motionless dragon and bright with tears.

"Brother?" Uriel ventured when Castiel did not acknowledge his presence.

"I did that." whispered Castiel, so quietly that even Uriel had a hard time hearing. "I killed it. It was only protecting its territory... and I killed it."

Technically, the dragon was not dead _yet_ , but if unable to remove itself from the rubble within an hour and it would very well be. Anyway, it was only a dragon; what good did it ever do the world anyway besides scorching a few villages? Then Uriel saw that his brother was really crying now and had to bury himself within his wings. Normally, he would pull him up so they could move on to their next task, except that he was fully aware that Castiel's mind was easily manipulated by emotions, and a chaotic mind would only lead to disastrous results; if he was going to calm him down, he had to take drastic measures:

Uriel walked toward the dragon, pushed over some of the heavier stones and healed its injuries. While he was doing so, he watched as Castiel slowly lift his head up and the tears vanish from his eyes at the gesture. The second the dragon was fully healed, Uriel carried Castiel and flew off.

O_x

To get away from it all, Uriel took them to the bottom of the Earth, where snow prevailed and life was scarce. They landed on a spot that was vastly populated by soft mounds of snow and penguins. The birds scattered away at their arrival but did not seem all that bothered.

Uriel looked down and saw Castiel moping, almost sinking into the pile of snow and curling his wings around himself to make a miserable, tiny ball.

"Quit sulking. I have something to show you." said Uriel, dragging him to the only nearby rocky surface.

Castiel slowly stared at him with the most dejected expression ever. "What are we going to do?" he asked glumly.

"Recuperation. But _only_ for a few minutes." said Uriel. Once they were both settled on the rock, they sat in arctic darkness for a long time; it was a shame the sun did not shine here often.

"You feel so much. Why is that?" asked Uriel, breaking the silence.

By now, Castiel's wings had started to conceal him from the world again. "I don't know." he quietly replied.

Uriel pulled a face but did not say anything. "Well, once you're done training, emotions will no longer influence you on your duties." he said.

A particularly harsh wind blew by and the penguins cried out in unison and clumsily huddled together. Uriel and Castiel went on totally unfazed by the elements.

"I'm holding our garrison back, aren't I?" said Castiel after a while.

Uriel had the urge to tell him a lot of things, none of which were very encouraging. "You're still a fledgling." he said instead. When he noticed his brother's wide-eyed gaze on him, Uriel added, "A much, much younger fledgling. You just need to… catch up. A long, long, long, incredibly long way."

The remarkable gust of wind ultimately died down, and soon the crowd of penguins broke apart and continued doing their previous tasks. A baby penguin waddled out of its parents' hold and made its way to the rock where the two angels were sitting. It tripped on a bit of snow and began chirping for help as it was too pudgy to get up on its own.

It came as no surprise to Uriel that Castiel picked the downy puffball up and proceeded to pet and snuggle it. Uriel wondered if his younger brother was even aware of his actions or if he was doing it absentmindedly – automatically and instinctively. He distanced himself a few inches from the cuddle-fest beside him nonetheless.

"Have you ever held a real weapon before?" Castiel suddenly asked.

Uriel was somewhat taken aback by such an unexpected question, but at least he found it relevant enough. "I've had. Then I lost it." he admitted.

That halted Castiel from nuzzling the chick into his wings. "What happened?" he asked.

"I got into a fight with the Kraken." said Uriel, not bothering to hide it. "I won, obviously, but at the cost of my blade." he said. He tore a small chunk of the rock they were sitting on and made it skip a mile out across the ocean. "And it's not even an official blade bestowed upon by our superiors; I forged it myself and put a bit of my own Grace in it." he added wistfully.

Castiel held the chick closer to him, albeit his eyes remained on Uriel. "You can do that?"

That got a smirk out of Uriel. "We're angels. We can achieve whatever we want if we don't hold ourselves back." he said proudly.

The look he received from his brother was that of admiration, like Castiel was watching from the audience as Uriel came back home to Heaven after a grueling yet successful mission. Castiel appeared to be on the verge of saying something when a bright light shone from the horizon.

He and Uriel turned their attention to the ocean and saw the land's first ever sunrise in several months. For a moment, peace and wonder dominated over the Antarctic as golden radiance gently caressed every patch of snow and every ruffled feather. Even the penguins stopped squabbling amongst themselves and gazed at the rare sight.

"Alright, recuperation has gone on long enough. Get up, Castiel, you're going to go through an obstacle course this time." said Uriel once the sun had fully risen.

With a wave of his hand, a long obstacle course was established, much to the penguins' utter dismay: loops and tunnels of icebergs formed on the sea, creating an eccentric path complete with falling ice shards, collapsing walls and sharks jumping out at random points. And as an added bonus, Uriel made certain segments rise and fall into the freezing waters every three seconds, which would pull any angel down with then whether they want to or not.

A smug, malicious grin on his face, Uriel turned to Castiel… only to find out that his brother was gone and had left him alone with the penguin chick blinking inquisitively at him.

"Castiel?" Uriel called out angrily, his voice echoing for miles. " _Castiel_!" he shouted, louder and more livid.

Yet there was still no sight of his brother anywhere.

"You are such a _coward_! Get back here now!" Uriel screamed, practically to the entire continent.

He waited for some time, actually hoping that Castiel was not the coward he thought himself to be. But then the sun set and he still did not show up. Furious, and a little disappointed, Uriel flew back to Heaven.

O_x

He occupied himself with pummeling the artificial life out of a multitude of demon-dummies, not caring in the slightest if he had to replace every last one of them. He was so furious that the only thing that refrained him from laying waste to the entire Host were the archangels lurking around here and there.

Then, Uriel heard his squeaky little voice.

"Uriel, I found you!"

Turning around wrathfully, Uriel put his worst glare forward and marched over to Castiel.

"Where have you been?" demanded Uriel.

Castiel shrank into himself and his feathers ruffled in defense. "I was – " he started nervously.

"Did I _say_ training was over?" Uriel shouted.

"I wasn't – " said Castiel feebly.

"Did I _tell_ you could leave?" Uriel went on, louder this time.

"Uriel, please – " Castiel whimpered.

"You left me at the bottom of the planet with a bunch of mangy birds!" screamed Uriel, pointing down to where Earth was.

"I'm sorry but – "

"I thought you were serious with becoming a real soldier!"

"I am – !"

"Yet you abandoned me without a word and flitted off into hiding to Father knows where!"

"That's not – "

"How am I ever – ?"

" _Uriel_!" Castiel shouted desperately, his wings flaring out uncontrollably.

Uriel stared at his brother with stunned disbelief for a moment. However, it seemed that that was enough time for Castiel to reach for something behind him and present the object to him: it was an authentic blade, glowing with pure, unused power and so sharp that it was almost cutting the blue-red light surrounding it. But there was something familiar about the blade…

"Is this mine?" Uriel asked incredulously.

"Yes, and I fixed it up too." said Castiel, offering a shy smile.

That explained why the auburn light the blade usually emitted was now tinted with blue. Nevertheless, the important thing was that, instead of cowering in a niche like Uriel had previously suspected, Castiel had in fact retrieved and mended the blade he lost such a long time ago. It was phenomenal!

Gingerly, Uriel took the blade and closely examined it. The dents and scratches from his rigorous trainings centuries ago were gone, and if it were possible, the edges were even straighter this time. It felt incredibly good to hold it again, even though the essence was not solely his anymore.

"Not bad." Uriel commented, with just a smidgeon of awe seeping out.

"Thank you." said Castiel.

Uriel considered his younger brother and sensed his wings softening for the first time in his existence. "No. Thank you." he said quietly, which was as close to being gentle as he could ever attain.

Castiel looked up at him in wide-eyed curiosity, as if he had never heard those two words being addressed to him instead. As they fleetingly locked gazes, Uriel soon noticed how disheveled his brother looked; his downy wings were frayed, his light was flickering at the edges and his Grace seemed to struggle in providing more energy.

That was when Uriel remembered one very important factor: "How did you get this from the Kraken?" he asked wildly.

Castiel's stare went on a little longer before a smile appeared. "I _am_ an angel." he proclaimed. His gaze went down as he muttered, "And Cerberus helped."

Whatever 'help' that mutt gave, it was obvious that Castiel had still taken most of the hits from the Kraken with how ready to fall apart he was. That meant he basically had to take on the Kraken on his own, and for what, a single blade that was not even his?

"Why did you do it?" asked Uriel.

"Because someone once told me that angels can achieve whatever they want if they don't hold themselves back." said Castiel. "And you're my brother; I don't want to see my family sad."

Those words struck something in Uriel and he could not decide whether to smack him or… do something affectionate. After all the things he pushed him through, Castiel's spirit remained pure and he was simply overwhelmed by it. Maybe there truly was more to his brother than what the eye could perceive. Maybe he deserved to be in this garrison after all.

Uriel snapped out of his thoughts when he realized Castiel was so tired that he had to lean onto one of the columns. "We should get you to the Infirmary to replenish your Grace." he said, tucking his blade away and taking hold of his brother.

"And then can we spar after?" Castiel asked after a while.

All Uriel could do was stare at him in shock before he broke out laughing. "Now _that's_ a brother I can relate to!" he exclaimed.

O_x

" _Now, please, brother, don't fight me. Help me. Help me spread the word. Help me bring on the Apocalypse. All you have to do is be unafraid."_

" _For the first time in a long time, I am."_

Fin (for this mini-story) _  
_


End file.
